Search Results for: exchange
Object-Oriented Ontology: A New Theory of Everything (Pelican Books)
We humans tend to believe that things are only real in as much as we perceive them, an idea reinforced by modern philosophy, which privileges us as special, radically different in kind from all other objects. But as Graham Harman, one of the theory's leading exponents, shows, Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO) rejects the idea of human specialness: the world, he states, is clearly not the world as manifest to humans. "To think a reality beyond our thinking is not nonsense, but obligatory." At OOO's heart is the idea that objects—whether real, fictional, natural, artificial, human, or non-human—are mutually autonomous. This core idea has significance for nearly every field of inquiry which is concerned in some way with the systematic interaction of objects, and the degree to which individual objects resist full participation in such systems. In this brilliant new introduction, Graham Harman lays out OOO's history, ideas, and impact, taking in art and literature, politics and natural science along the way. From Sherlock Holmes, unicorns, and videogames to Dadaism, Voltaire, and string theory, this book will change the way you understand everything.
Human Compatible
Creating superior intelligence would be the biggest event in human history. Unfortunately, according to the world's pre-eminent AI expert, it could also be the last.In this groundbreaking book, Stuart Russell explains why he has come to consider his own discipline an existential threat to his own species, and lays out how we can change course before it's too late. There is no one better placed to assess the promise and perils of the dominant technology of the future than Russell, who has spent decades at the forefront of AI research. Through brilliant analogies and crisp, lucid prose, he explains how AI actually works, how it has an enormous capacity to improve our lives - but why we must ensure that we never lose control of machines more powerful than we are. Here Russell shows how we can avert the worst threats by reshaping the foundations of AI to guarantee that machines pursue our objectives, not theirs.Profound, urgent and visionary, Human Compatible is the one book everyone needs to read to understand a future that is coming sooner than we think.
Babel: Around the World in 20 Languages
If you were to master the twenty languages discussed in Babel, you could talk with three quarters of the world's population. But what makes these languages stand out amid the world's estimated 6,500 tongues?Gaston Dorren delves deep into the linguistic oddities and extraordinary stories of these diverse lingua francas, tracing their origins and their sometimes bloody rise to greatness. He deciphers their bewildering array of scripts, presents the gems and gaps in their vocabularies and charts their coinages and loans. He even explains how their grammars order their speakers' worldview.Combining linguistics and cultural history, Babel takes us on an intriguing tour of the world, addressing such questions as how tiny Portugal spawned a major world language and Holland didn't, why Japanese women talk differently from men, what it means for Russian to be 'related' to English, and how non-alphabetic scripts, such as those of India and China, do the same job as our 26 letters. Not to mention the conundrums of why Vietnamese has four forms for 'I', or how Tamil pronouns keep humans and deities apart.Babel will change the way you look at the world and how we all speak.
Caméléon – Zoubir Souissi
Les dictionnaires définissent le caméléon, outre l’animal bien connu pour s’adapter à la couleur et au décor ambiant pour s’y fondre, comme une personne versatile qui change facilement d’opinion. Cet exercice qui implique des pérégrinations dans les méandres des mouvances politiciennes, les hommes s’y sont adonnés depuis la nuit des temps, parfois avec délectation. Caméléons, girouettes ou plus prosaïquement opportunistes, ils naviguent sous toutes les latitudes, dans tous les continents et tous les systèmes, sans vergogne, ni états d’âme. La finalité pour eux est de s’agripper aux plis du pouvoir et de ne pas lâcher prise quelles que puissent être les pressions. Foin de moralité, d’éthique et de grands mots. Pour ces personnes l’expression « la fin justifie
les moyens » est la devise, le mot d’ordre. C’est l’histoire d’un de ces personnages qui est racontée dans cet ouvrage. Le récit se passe dans une Algérie contemporaine ravagée par l’insécurité et le terrorisme.
Il aurait pu se dérouler ailleurs tant le sujet qui nous intéresse est véritablement mondialiste. Mais au niveau national, comme au niveau local, les caméléons de tout acabit, ont encore de beaux jours devant eux. Ainsi est faite la nature humaine.
Bookshops & Bonedust
When an injury throws a young, battle-hungry orc off her chosen path, she may find that what we need isn't always what we seek.In Bookshops & Bonedust, a prequel to Legends & Lattes, New York Times bestselling author Travis Baldree takes us on a journey of high fantasy, first loves, and second-hand books.Viv's career with the notorious mercenary company Rackam's Ravens isn't going as planned.Wounded during the hunt for a powerful necromancer, she's packed off against her will to recuperate in the sleepy beach town of Murk—so far from the action that she worries she'll never be able to return to it.What's a thwarted soldier of fortune to do?Spending her hours at a beleaguered bookshop in the company of its foul-mouthed proprietor is the last thing Viv would have predicted, but it may be both exactly what she needs and the seed of changes she couldn't possibly imagine.Still, adventure isn't all that far away. A suspicious traveler in gray, a gnome with a chip on her shoulder, a summer fling, and an improbable number of skeletons prove Murk to be more eventful than Viv could have ever expected.
The Code Breaker
'The Code Breaker’s confident, cinematic style makes Crispr accessible like never before, taking readers on a journey that is exciting, as well as ethically treacherous.' – The Financial Times
'A page-turner. It weaves history and contemporary events into a narrative propelled by the career of its protagonist, Jennifer Doudna.' – The Economist
‘Nobody knows this stuff and these people, and explains them, quite like Isaacson. If you need to know about CRISPR – and you do – this is the place to start.' – The Sunday Times
The best-selling author of Leonardo da Vinci and Steve Jobs returns.
In 2012, Nobel Prize winning scientist Jennifer Doudna hit upon an invention that will transform the future of the human race: an easy-to-use tool that can edit DNA.
Known as CRISPR, it opened a brave new world of medical miracles and moral questions. It has already been deployed to cure deadly diseases, fight the coronavirus pandemic of 2020, and make inheritable changes in the genes of babies.
But what does that mean for humanity? Should we be hacking our own DNA to make us less susceptible to disease? Should we democratise the technology that would allow parents to enhance their kids?
After discovering this CRISPR, Doudna is now wrestling these even bigger issues.
The Code Breaker is an examination of how life as we know it is about to change – and a brilliant portrayal of the woman leading the way.
'The Code Breaker’s confident, cinematic style makes Crispr accessible like never before, taking readers on a journey that is exciting, as well as ethically treacherous.' The Financial Times
'The CRISPR history holds obvious appeal for Walter Isaacson, a biographer of Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, Steve Jobs and Leonardo da Vinci. In “The Code Breaker” he reprises several of his previous themes — science, genius, experiment, code, thinking different — and devotes a full length book to a female subject for the first time. Jennifer Doudna, a genuine heroine for our time, may be the code breaker of the book’s title, but she is only part of Isaacson’s story... The Code Breaker” is in some respects a journal of our 2020 plague year. By the final chapter, Isaacson has enrolled in a vaccine trial' - New York Times
‘Nobody knows this stuff and these people, and explains them, quite like Isaacson. If you need to know about CRISPR — and you do — this is the place to start' - The Sunday Times
'A page-turner. It weaves history and contemporary events into a narrative propelled by the career of its protagonist, Jennifer Doudna.' – The Economist
‘Nobody knows this stuff and these people, and explains them, quite like Isaacson. If you need to know about CRISPR – and you do – this is the place to start.' – The Sunday Times
The best-selling author of Leonardo da Vinci and Steve Jobs returns.
In 2012, Nobel Prize winning scientist Jennifer Doudna hit upon an invention that will transform the future of the human race: an easy-to-use tool that can edit DNA.
Known as CRISPR, it opened a brave new world of medical miracles and moral questions. It has already been deployed to cure deadly diseases, fight the coronavirus pandemic of 2020, and make inheritable changes in the genes of babies.
But what does that mean for humanity? Should we be hacking our own DNA to make us less susceptible to disease? Should we democratise the technology that would allow parents to enhance their kids?
After discovering this CRISPR, Doudna is now wrestling these even bigger issues.
The Code Breaker is an examination of how life as we know it is about to change – and a brilliant portrayal of the woman leading the way.
'The Code Breaker’s confident, cinematic style makes Crispr accessible like never before, taking readers on a journey that is exciting, as well as ethically treacherous.' The Financial Times
'The CRISPR history holds obvious appeal for Walter Isaacson, a biographer of Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, Steve Jobs and Leonardo da Vinci. In “The Code Breaker” he reprises several of his previous themes — science, genius, experiment, code, thinking different — and devotes a full length book to a female subject for the first time. Jennifer Doudna, a genuine heroine for our time, may be the code breaker of the book’s title, but she is only part of Isaacson’s story... The Code Breaker” is in some respects a journal of our 2020 plague year. By the final chapter, Isaacson has enrolled in a vaccine trial' - New York Times
‘Nobody knows this stuff and these people, and explains them, quite like Isaacson. If you need to know about CRISPR — and you do — this is the place to start' - The Sunday Times
A Long Petal of the Sea
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
'A powerful love story spanning generations. Full of ambition and humanity' Sunday Times
'One of the strongest and most affecting works in Allende's long career' New York Times Book Review
Victor Dalmau is a young doctor when he is caught up in the Spanish Civil War, a tragedy that leaves his life - and the fate of his country - forever changed. Together with his sister-in-law, he is forced out of his beloved Barcelona and into exile in Chile. There, they find themselves enmeshed in a rich web of characters who come together in love and tragedy over the course of four generations, destined to witness the battle between freedom and repression as it plays out across the world.
'A masterful work of historical fiction about hope, exile and belonging' Independent Online
'A defiantly warm and funny novel, by somebody who has earned the right to argue that love and optimism can survive whatever history might throw at us' Daily Telegraph
'Allende's style is impressively Olympian and the payoff is remarkable' Guardian
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
'A powerful love story spanning generations. Full of ambition and humanity' Sunday Times
'One of the strongest and most affecting works in Allende's long career' New York Times Book Review
Victor Dalmau is a young doctor when he is caught up in the Spanish Civil War, a tragedy that leaves his life - and the fate of his country - forever changed. Together with his sister-in-law, he is forced out of his beloved Barcelona and into exile in Chile. There, they find themselves enmeshed in a rich web of characters who come together in love and tragedy over the course of four generations, destined to witness the battle between freedom and repression as it plays out across the world.
'A masterful work of historical fiction about hope, exile and belonging' Independent Online
'A defiantly warm and funny novel, by somebody who has earned the right to argue that love and optimism can survive whatever history might throw at us' Daily Telegraph
'Allende's style is impressively Olympian and the payoff is remarkable' Guardian
Object-Oriented Ontology: A New Theory of Everything (Pelican Books)
We humans tend to believe that things are only real in as much as we perceive them, an idea reinforced by modern philosophy, which privileges us as special, radically different in kind from all other objects. But as Graham Harman, one of the theory's leading exponents, shows, Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO) rejects the idea of human specialness: the world, he states, is clearly not the world as manifest to humans. "To think a reality beyond our thinking is not nonsense, but obligatory." At OOO's heart is the idea that objects—whether real, fictional, natural, artificial, human, or non-human—are mutually autonomous. This core idea has significance for nearly every field of inquiry which is concerned in some way with the systematic interaction of objects, and the degree to which individual objects resist full participation in such systems. In this brilliant new introduction, Graham Harman lays out OOO's history, ideas, and impact, taking in art and literature, politics and natural science along the way. From Sherlock Holmes, unicorns, and videogames to Dadaism, Voltaire, and string theory, this book will change the way you understand everything.
L’Instant présent
" Souviens-toi que l'on a deux vies.La seconde commence le jour où on se rend compte que l'on n'en a qu'une. "Pour payer ses études d'art dramatique, Lisa travaille dans un bar de Manhattan. Elle y fait la connaissance d'Arthur Costello, un jeune médecin urgentiste. En apparence, il a tout pour plaire.Mais Arthur n'est pas un homme comme les autres. Deux ans plus tôt, il a hérité de la résidence de son grand-père : un vieux phare isolé dans lequel une pièce a été condamnée. Malgré sa promesse, il a choisi d'ouvrir la porte, découvrant une vérité bouleversante qui lui interdit de mener une vie normale.Sa rencontre avec Lisa va tout changer et lui redonner une raison d'espérer. Dès lors, Arthur et Lisa n'ont qu'une obsession, déjouer les pièges que leur impose le plus impitoyable des ennemis : le temps.Un suspense psychologique vertigineux au final stupéfiant." Guillaume Musso persiste et signe. Il est bien le maître du suspense. " Le Figaro
Americanah
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILEY S WOMEN S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2014.
From the award-winning author of Half of a Yellow Sun, a powerful story of love, race and identity.
As teenagers in Lagos, Ifemelu and Obinze fall in love. Their Nigeria is under military dictatorship, and people are fleeing the country if they can. The self-assured Ifemelu departs for America. There she suffers defeats and triumphs, finds and loses relationships, all the while feeling the weight of something she never thought of back home: race. Obinze had hoped to join her, but post-9/11 America will not let him in, and he plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London.
Thirteen years later, Obinze is a wealthy man in a newly democratic Nigeria, while Ifemelu has achieved success as a blogger. But after so long apart and so many changes, will they find the courage to meet again, face to face?
Fearless, gripping, spanning three continents and numerous lives, the National Book Critics Circle Award-winning Americanah is a richly told story of love and expectation set in today s globalized world.
From the award-winning author of Half of a Yellow Sun, a powerful story of love, race and identity.
As teenagers in Lagos, Ifemelu and Obinze fall in love. Their Nigeria is under military dictatorship, and people are fleeing the country if they can. The self-assured Ifemelu departs for America. There she suffers defeats and triumphs, finds and loses relationships, all the while feeling the weight of something she never thought of back home: race. Obinze had hoped to join her, but post-9/11 America will not let him in, and he plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London.
Thirteen years later, Obinze is a wealthy man in a newly democratic Nigeria, while Ifemelu has achieved success as a blogger. But after so long apart and so many changes, will they find the courage to meet again, face to face?
Fearless, gripping, spanning three continents and numerous lives, the National Book Critics Circle Award-winning Americanah is a richly told story of love and expectation set in today s globalized world.